Gobstopper
by kurgaya
Summary: AU - IchiHitsu - Toshiro would never have gotten up that morning if he knew he was going to spend the day with a talking parrot and a wizard in training at his bookstore, but alas, Fate was never that kind. Totally random - you've been warned!


**I'm not dead. I don't know. Happy birthday AkiraNagashima!**

**By the way, this is probably border-lining _complete nonsense._**

**Please, enjoy.**

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><p><strong><span>Gobstopper<span>**

There it goes  
>You stole my soul and so<br>'Cause, sweetheart  
>No-no-nobody a-kno-kno-knows me<br>Or can find  
>Time to be m-mine, mine<p>

**Fever - Adam Lambert**

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><p>Being the, rather young, owner of The Corner Bookshop, typically, sitting on the corner of the street, nineteen year old Tōshirō Hitsugaya didn't see a lot of weird things in his time. He read about them, oh yes, how could he not with thousands of other worlds at his disposal, sitting waiting patiently upon dusty oak shelves to be opened and explored, but experiencing them was an entirely different matter. You see, the short college student liked to consider himself fairly normal on the scale of the human race, his mark settled right in the middle of the line, just under the wacky red zone, and just above the boring black. Of course, he knew people who were border lining both sides, and he had heard of people who were well into the red, but he wasn't bothered by that, oh no, because he was perfectly happy being right in the middle.<p>

And then, one day, another fine sunny April morning in which the birds tweeted and the flowers blossomed, something changed. Well actually, a few things changed when he woke up in his apartment, the first being the time he had stirred from his sleep – earlier than normal, but that wasn't important because he just rolled over and went back to sleep again. The second was his mood. You see now, Tōshirō Hitsugaya wasn't the friendliest of people. Having been brought up a single child without any parents by his unfortunately poor grandmother, our young white haired teal eyed adult had fallen victim of a constant wave of bullying. One because of his somewhat tatty clothes (which he didn't really mind to be honest, they were clothes and he was happy with that), and two, because of his appearance. He became cold and unreachable by almost all, his grandmother, his good friend Juushiro Ukitake, and his sister (in everything except blood) Rangiku Matsumoto being the only three exceptions, and had no desire of getting close to anybody else.

He didn't want to be hurt.

But going back to the list, the third thing that had changed that morning was the fact that when he arrived at a cute little candy store a few streets away from his bookstore, there was a boldly coloured parrot sitting on the counter. At first he didn't notice it, instead smiling happily at the chime of the bell above the wooden door when he stepped inside, but when he reached the far wall packed with millions of rainbow wrappers and huge lollypops and gummy bears and every single type of sweet imaginable, the ruffling green feathers of the bird caught his eye. He turned to stare at it, his hand halfway to the desired packet of gobstoppers on the shelf.

"Ukitake-san," he called loudly to the strangely absent owner of the shop, hoping that the man would reply from somewhere in the back. "Ukitake-san, there's a bird sitting on your counter, is he yours?"

Thankfully the smiling face of the elder popped around from the back a second later. "Oh hello Hitsugaya-kun," said Ukitake, stepping into view with a large cardboard box in his hands. "I didn't hear you come in."

"Ah, yes," Tōshirō said slowly, still not taking his eyes off of the parrot. For some reason the beady eyes of the creature were staring right at him, and even if he wasn't afraid of birds he still would have been unnerved by the piercing glare. "There's – um – there's a bird sitting on your counter – is he dangerous?" He had wanted to say 'is he yours?' again, by the unexplainable fear bubbling up inside of his throat had taken over with the need to know if the body it was currently causing to shake was going to need to escape from the store.

"Oh no, he's not dangerous," said Ukitake, putting the box down on the floor and gently stroking the bird on the head to prove his point. "And he's not mine – he belongs to my nephew actually, Ichigo. The young lad's just in the back helping me move some of the boxes if you'd like to meet him."

"Ah, no, it's fine," said Tōshirō, finally grabbing the packet of gobstoppers on the shelf. "I'll just stay – I'll stay over here."

"Yo, Ukitake, where'd you want me to put this?" said a new voice, belonging to the nephew Tōshirō assumed, and it was a moment later that a tall male walked in lugging another cardboard box and wearing a simple black t-shirt and a navy pairs of jeans which, mercifully, contrasted adequately against his outrageous orange hair.

"Just put it on top of that one," said Ukitake, pointing down at the box he had placed on the floor. "And then say hello to Hitsugaya-kun."

Ichigo put the box down with a sigh and then straightened up, stretching his arms above his head. He looked over in Tōshirō's direction and smiled, the carefree look causing something inside of the teenager to melt.

(Hopefully it was his heart).

"Hi there, I'm Ichigo Kurosaki."

Tōshirō raised an eyebrow, slipping his icy mask back over his face. "Tōshirō Hitsugaya," he said smoothly, giving a nod in Ichigo's direction. "You look nervous if you don't mind me pointing out, Kurosaki."

Ichigo laughed, rubbing the back of his head in a bashful manner. His uncle sent his a befuddled look, obviously not having noticed his nephew's discomfort before-hand. "Yeah well," said Ichigo. "I'm actually hiding from my maid – I'm not supposed to be here you see. I should be at home studying but I kinda ran and ended up here."

Tōshirō resisted the urge to chuckle as Ukitake gave a dramatic sigh. "Well then surely, Kurosaki," he said, feeling rather stupid standing on the other side of the room holding a small packet of sweets like a child. "Your uncle is the first place anybody would go to look for you."

Ichigo's face fell and the green parrot gave a peculiar squawk – one that much sounded like a laugh to Tōshirō's sensitive ears. "Didn't think of that," the ginger admitted, and then he walked around the side of the counter and picked up a grey backpack that was hidden there. "Gotta run Ukitake," he said to his uncle, the white haired man shaking his head in amusement, as he slung his bag over his back and jogged over to the door. "Nice to meet you Tōshirō!"

The bell chimed on the door, and without another word he was running down the street.

"Sometimes I wonder," said Ukitake, and his smile was back. "You can continue looking around Hitsugaya-kun," he said to the other. "Just call me when you're done."

Tōshirō nodded dumbly, watching the man retreat back into the back room, blinking in the awkward silence that still remained left in Kurosaki's wake. He wondered what the hell had just happened, but then bolted to the door, wrenching it open. "Oi!" he yelled down the street, earning him a couple of stares from passer-bys. "You left your bird, moron!"

(Why the insult came naturally, he didn't know).

"Relaaaaax," said a new voice, deep and wise. "I can find him where-ever he is."

"Yeah well," Tōshirō said, and then he paused, feeling a couple of sharp twinges of pain as something settled on his head. Unwillingly letting a whimper escape him Tōshirō screwed his eyes shut as the parrot sitting in his hair leaned forward and stared at him, upside-down but perfectly balanced and supporting a coy smile.

(If parrots could smile that is).

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod," repeated Tōshirō, his heart beating frantically in his chest, his lungs tightening painfully. It was _in his hair_! There was a parrot – a bird, a _fucking_ bird – feathers – and beak – and it was a bloody bird _sitting in his hair_…!

"Are you frightened of me?" came the voice again, this time a lot closer than it had been before. "I won't hurt you, you know, Master's wishes and all."

And then Tōshirō realized that the only other thing in the room with him was the parrot.

It could_ talk_.

And he reacted like any other normal human on the scale of the human race would have done upon finding out that a parrot could talk; he screamed, jumping so violently that he tripped over the step in the doorframe and fell out of the shop, landing on his side on the concrete pavement with an 'umph', the now-technically-stolen packet of gobstoppers flying through the air and landing a few feet away from him.

The parrot landed beside him with ceremonious grace and held out his wing towards the boy groaning on the pavement. "Want some help there child?"

"I'm dreaming," said Tōshirō, lifting himself up into a seat position and clutching his head. "I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming."

"Then your dreams are insanely normal," the parrot said, dropping his wing back down. "You could have at least come up with something interesting, I dunno, a giant man eating dog and a fight that could end the world?"

Tōshirō stared at him, shoulders dropping. "So I… am dreaming?"

"Nope," said the parrot. "Cause if you were there would be a man eating dog chasing our tails. And you know you really should move because you're still sitting in the middle of the sidewalk."

Tōshirō snorted, quickly glancing around to see if there was anybody about anymore. There wasn't, much to his relief, and the few cars driving past were travelling much to fast to notice him talking to a parrot anyway. Still, he shuffled backwards so that he was sitting against the candy shop wall, not feeling quite sane enough to try standing on his own two feet.

This was not right. He must have hit his head this morning or something. Oh why did he have to come to the candy shop today! He could have gone one day without something sweet (it was his own secret little addiction) and just sat around at the bookshop all day. That way, he wouldn't have met Ichigo and his talking bird!

Tōshirō's head dropped. He should have had coffee this morning…

"Kid, you ok?" asked the parrot, jumping closer. One of Tōshirō's legs shot out instantly, and the parrot shot into the air to avoid getting crushed. "Don't come near me!" shouted the teen. "Just – stay away!"

"Alright alright," said the bird, landing a couple of feet away. "Can't understand why you're scared though…"

"None of your business," mumbled Tōshirō, shaking his head. He stood on his shaking legs and dusted himself off, the parrot's eyes watching him. "I'm going," he announced, though he wasn't sure why because he must be dreaming, and dream-bird didn't know where he was going.

The parrot apparently thought otherwise because he gave a little hop and then jumped into the air, shooting up past Tōshirō and getting a girly little scream out of him in the process. "Where you go, I go," he called down from above, settling himself onto of the candy store roof.

"Hell no," snapped Tōshirō, beginning to walk in the direction of his abandoned bookstore. "You go and find Kurosaki and leave me alone."

"There's no point," said the bird, now gliding above him. Tōshirō resisted the urge to cover his head with his arms and run away, instead continuing to walk down the path, taking deep breaths as he did.

It's ok, he won't hurt you. He said he wouldn't.

_Oh god I'm going mad…_

"And why's there no point?" Tōshirō asked ludicrously, looking up to the sky to where he assumed the bloody bird was flying about. "Surely your Master is looking for you."

"Of course not," said the bird from somewhere off to the left, evidentially not as high as Tōshirō thought he was. "He's waiting for me at your shop."

"He better be," grumbled Tōshirō, looking back at the pavement with his eyes darkening. "That way I can get rid of you for good."

The bird gave another cackle and remained silent until Tōshirō turned the corner at the opposite end of the street to his shop; at that moment he swooped down low and nested in Tōshirō's hair once again. The boy went tense, swearing under his breath, but the parrot just shifted until he was comfortable, ignoring how uncomfortable his 'resting post' was. "You know, your hair really is lovely. Master over there hasn't got enough of it for me to sit in."

And low and behold, there was Ichigo Kurosaki standing outside his shop.

"Yo," he said with a salute when they approached, smirking upon seeing his parrot in Tōshirō's air. "How cute, he likes you."

The parrot tutted, something Tōshirō was sure a bird should not be able to do. "He doesn't like me though, it's a shame he's scared."

"Scared?" Ichigo repeated with a raised eyebrow. His eyes shining with concern he looked down at the boy he was waiting for and asked, "You scared of birds Tōshirō?"

Tōshirō stepped past him and fished his key out of his pocket. "_Yes_," he hissed, shoving the key into the door lock. "Now I would very much appreciate it if you took your damn bird and left."

His sudden change of mood shocked the ginger, but he covered his surprise with an award-wining smile. "Whatever you say Tōshirō," he said calmy, holding out his arm. "Come here Zan and stop picking on him. We've got work to do you know."

"Ah yes, you're still searching for that book aren't you?" Zan asked, jumping out of Tōshirō's hair and gliding over to his Master's awaiting arm. "Are you any closer to finding it yet?"

Tōshirō ignored them, pushing open the door to the bookstore and putting his key back into his pocket. The familiar smell of paper and ink hit him like a gust of warm air and he sighed happily stepping inside and flicking on the light switch. The shop itself was small, filled to the ceiling with books upon books crammed into any open space they could find and Tōshirō loved it, wandering over to the counter-converted desk and slipping into his chair. He had just pulled open the top drawer when a voice echoed around the quiet room, "So it's in here is it?"

Tōshirō resisted the urge to smack his head against the counter; Ichigo and his pet had followed him inside and were now standing in the middle of the room gazing around in awe. "Are you sure?" Zan asked with disbelief. "Strange place for a book like that."

"Trust me," Ichigo said seriously with a nod of his head. "It's in here, I can _feel_ it. But where to start?"

Tōshirō didn't even know why he bothered. "What exactly are you looking for?" he asked, a cold edge to his voice. The sooner they found their book the sooner they would leave. Not that he had anything against Ichigo, but it was that stupid bird…

"Oh," Ichigo said, as if he were surprised Tōshirō was in here. "Don't worry, I'll find it."

Tōshirō tutted. "Kurosaki, I _own_ this shop. I think your search'll be much quicker if you _ask me_ what you're looking for."

Zan gave another little sarcastic laugh. "He thinks he'll be able to find it! Oh that's just pure gold!"

A growl ripped from Ichigo's throat and he jolted his arm causing the bird to have to take off. "Shut up Zan, I told you to be nice." He glared at his familiar until the bird had taken refuge on one of the shelves at the top of one of the bookcases, and then his expression softened as he turned to the frowning male sitting behind the counter. "Sorry about him, he doesn't know when to shut his mouth sometimes; I reckon he's slightly autistic but I've never run a test to find out. But yes, help would be wonderful."

Something about the other male made Tōshirō calm, but that might just be because Zan was now considerably out of the way. Standing, Tōshirō pushed the open drawer shut with his knee and met Ichigo in the middle of the room. The height difference was amazing and the white haired student found himself blushing in embarrassment, but Ichigo didn't seem to notice because he just rested his hands behind his head. "So, what's the book called?" Tōshirō asked curiously, looking up at the other man.

"Intermediate Summoning Grade 5, by K. Urahara," said Ichigo with a smile. "Where do we begin then?"

Tōshirō's mouth had dropped open slightly. "Summoning? What, you mean like magic?"

"Of course," Ichigo replied, chuckling lightly. "Otherwise it would be physics, and there's not much physics in magic I'm afraid." He glanced down at the shorter male. "You don't seem that shocked. Actually, you seem to have taken to a talking parrot pretty well too, as much as you can when you're afraid of birds."

"I still thinking I'm dreaming," admitted Tōshirō quietly, shaking his head when Ichigo laughed. "That's the only explanation for all this."

"Trust me Tōshirō, you're not dreaming. I would know."

"Bullshit," replied the other sharply. "And it's Hitsugaya, not Tōshirō. But anyway, shall we begin to look for that book?" And then, "Hang on a second, if you're on grade 5 for summoning, surely you could just summon the book to you?"

Ichigo brought his arms down from behind his head with a sigh. "That's the ironic thing really, I have to know where the object is to be able to summon it," he explained. "I'm not quite at Masters yet."

Tōshirō stared at him for a moment. When the orange haired (wizard in training he supposed) said nothing more his shoulders sagged. "Wonderful," he growled, beckoning Ichigo to follow him as he walked over to one of the bookshelves. "Ah well, got nothing better to do than to play along."

It took a moment for Ichigo to catch up, and another to realize what exactly had been said. "Hey!" he cried, offended. "It's not made up! Look, I'll show you."

Waiting until he was sure he had Tōshirō's undivided attention, for it was obvious how curious the teenager was, even after only being in his presence for about five minutes, he clicked his fingers.

A small stuffed lion wearing a pink frilly dress appeared in Tōshirō's hands.

"Ah," Ichigo said when Tōshirō spluttered and choked on his words. "Looks like Yuzu's had her hands on him. Better change that." And he clicked his fingers again, the lion toy changing into a stuffed blue dragon in the blink of an eye. "Believe me now Tōshi – eh? Whoa, whoa, whoa, why are you crying?"

He knelt down so that he was at a similar height to the sobbing male and reached out, placing his hands on the arms wrapped tightly around the dragon toy. Tōshirō shook his head, his bright eyes slipped shut, as he sniffed to try and calm himself down.

"I'm so pathetic," he said, his tone but a whisper. "I – I'm sorry, I don't usually cry in front of customers…"

Ichigo chuckled weakly, but even that was forced. "Well it's not everyday you meet a wizard," he joked, trying to lighten the mood a bit. Still, tears streamed down Tōshirō's pale face and something inside of Ichigo twinged at the sight. "What is it? Have I done something to upset you? Is it the dragon? I can take it away if you –"

"No! …No…

.

.

.

...It's fine…"

Ichigo didn't look convinced, but he let it go.

"Wanna go book hunting then?" he asked cheerily, hoping that his companion would brighten up a bit at the mention of books. It worked (Ichigo thanked his magical powers) for Tōshirō gave a little smile. "Third shelf down on the left," he said, his eyes still locked on the dragon in his arms. "The book's been in here for as long as I can remember – I read through it once but I just thought it was a load of crap – that's why it's in the fiction section."

Ichigo nodded eagerly and began to search for the book. "Did you try any spells?"

Tōshirō sniffed. "Yeah, but it didn't work. If I had known magic was real I probably would have been even more disappointed then I was."

A bark of a laugh escaped from Ichigo's lips at these words as he pulled the red leather bound monster of a book from the shelf. The title was written across the front in curly gold writing and Ichigo continued to smile as he blew off the dust that had gathered there.

"Perfect. How much?" he asked, turning to face the other. Tōshirō just shrugged, still not looking at him. "I should charge you double for it considering how much trouble your stupid bird has put me through," he said coldly, and Ichigo decided it was probably best not to mention how unnerving it was having a conversation with someone that wouldn't look at you. "But you can have it for free."

"Free?" Ichigo repeated, rather puzzled. "Why?"

"Because it's only going to be any use to you isn't it? What are the chances I'm going to meet another magical person?"

Glad that Tōshirō was getting some of his spunk back, Ichigo admitted, "Probably rather high actually, not that you'd be able to tell. But I can promise you we don't all have talking birds."

They both laughed at his words, and Tōshirō gave a final sniff before fixing Ichigo with an amused look as if his moment of tears never happened.

(Ichigo could see the streaks on his cheeks though).

"Fancy that," the teenager snorted, shifting the dragon in his arms. "Is that all you were after?"

"Yeah," Ichigo said somewhat sadly, waving the book in Tōshirō's face. "My maid's probably still looking for me so I better get back; Karin and Yuzu are going to be angry with me, I'm sure."

Interest captured. "Karin and Yuzu?" Tōshirō asked as they headed back to the counter. "Family?"

"Twin sisters," Ichigo said, smiling proudly. "They're both seventeen now - Yuzu'll probably move out soon, but Karin'll most likely have to stay and work on her magic like me."

"Does Yuzu not have any magic then?"

"Nah, it's surprising really, but Karin and I have got quite a lot so it kinda makes up for it I guess." Ichigo shrugged, having not really thought about it before. "Hopefully I'll be able to move out before I hit twenty-two though; it's getting kinda embarrassing still living with my dad. And he's a nutter anyway so…"

"You're twenty-one?" Tōshirō blurted out rudely, blushing when Ichigo shot him a confused look. "Sorry, it's just that you don't look twenty-one…"

"And you don't look nineteen either," countered Ichigo, quickly checking over his shoulder to see where Zan had flown off to.

Teal eyes widened. "How'd you - ?"

Ichigo grinned, and Tōshirō's words died on his tongue. "Magic," they said at the same time, Ichigo's tone amused and Tōshirō's bland. "I'm a wizard," Ichigo continued with a somewhat pervy grin. "I can do anything because I am amazing."

"Really now," Tōshirō droned, hiding the fact that he was secretly intrigued. He leaned forward from behind the desk, Ichigo standing on the other side, and placed his elbows on the hard wood.

Ichigo copied his action, being rather daring Tōshirō thought, moving in so close that there noses were almost touching. Tōshirō wasn't fazed though, much to his surprise, and just smiled. "Yes," said Ichigo. "Wanna go on a date with me?"

That had not been what Tōshirō had been expecting and his elbow almost slipped from the table in shock. "Huh?" he asked stupidly, and Ichigo's grin widened even further.

"Great," he said. "I'll come and pick you up at eight tomorrow evening." He began to move away, Zan glided closer sensing that his Master was about to leave, but Tōshirō spluttered and grabbed the edge of his shirt with the hand that was not still holding the stuffed dragon.

"I –" Tōshirō's mouth snapped shut, an indecisive look floating in his eyes. Ichigo brushed the small pale hand off of his shirt and then patted the fluffy spikes of white hair. "Relax, I'll see you tomorrow."

"But –"

"I know where you live," said Ichigo, Zan landing on his shoulder. "I'm a wizard, I know everything."

Tōshirō blushed and sat down in the chair behind him with a funny little sigh. "What about –"

"You can keep the dragon," Ichigo continued, half stepping out of the shop. He smiled over his shoulder and gave a modest wave before striding onto the sidewalk and disappearing.

Literally.

And Tōshirō couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing, for the first time that day hoping it wasn't a dream.

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><p><strong>I still don't know...<strong>


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